Is there a way to make the selected layer more visible? Currently, the lock and eye in pale blue are very minimalist! The blue shade visible when hovering over the layer name is by far easier to detect. If this shade could be permanent, it would be nice and useful, IMHO.

This actually depends on your operating system (or window manager under Linux) respectively the color scheme that is being used. Especially if you are not using the default color scheme or theme, you might experience these sort of issues.

Could be. However I don't remeber having this issue with other application programs. It's just a little bit too shadowy At least with Q2, the line of the selected layer was always visible with White text on Blue background (at least on my Win 7 64 bits Home Premium French/Belgium PC), even when working in the drawing area.The point is that one has to permanently see which layer is selected. As soon as I click on the drawing area or a property window, the selected layer is no longer highlighted, just a pale shadow. My old man poor eyes are too weak for that If it's a matter of confifuration, EXCEL (Office Pro Plus 2010), on the same PC, succeeds in keeping the selected item highlighted. For instance, using the File menu in the ribbon then the Recent item, even if I hover over one file name, the Recent label is easy to read in White on a Dark Green background.Anyway, this is not as critical as the colors lost on save.